Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children Grant

Since taking on the Dental Home challenge in 2010, Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children has issued more than $4.6 million in grants and commitments helping 89 organizations in 32 states provide Dental Homes to more than 300,000 children. HSHC plans to release another $2.5 million in new commitments next year.

Help Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children reach 1 million child mark!

Tooth decay is the most common childhood disease.

Tooth decay (cavities) is an epidemic among our youngest children – an epidemic even worse for children from families struggling with poverty. That’s why Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children (HSHC) supports community-based initiatives providing Dental Homes to children from families who cannot afford dental care. The Foundation of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, HSHC is the nation’s largest pediatric dentist-led foundation dedicated to child oral health.

Since 2010, HSHC has awarded more than $4.6 million in grants and commitments to 89 organizations in 32 states and the District of Columbia. HSHC grantees have helped provide Dental Homes to more than 320,000 children.

Sylvestasia is an 8-year-old second-grader from Lowell Elementary School, in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Thanks to a Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children Access to Care Grant of $20,000 to Waukesha County Community Dental Clinic (WCCDC) and its in-school sealant program, she now is decay-free and smiling brightly. Her urgent dental needs included a badly decayed tooth. Through ProHealth Community Outreach Nurses and WCCDC, they were able to remove barriers and quickly get her access to care.

Zerghio, 7 years old, had been complaining to his mother for about a month of pain on his lower left side of his mouth. After a thorough dental examination, it was determined he had buccal swelling and a fistula that required antibiotics. Zerghio was referred to a Save a Smile volunteer oral surgeon for an extraction. He is one of four children being raised by a single mother and they are all living with his grandparents. Thanks to a Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children Access to Care Grant of $20,000 to Save a Smile in Fort Worth, Texas, Zerghio is now free of dental pain.

Eight-year old Yunuen Arteaga was in intense pain caused from her adult teeth coming in, leaving her mouth swollen and tender. This prevented her from concentrating on her homework and she missed days of school. Courtesy of a $20,000 grant by Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children to the Children’s Health Fund Project in Idaho, she had a dental visit with Dr. Adam Hodges. He immediately realized Yunuen had an infection in a baby tooth that needed to be extracted. She also needed major treatment to repair her other teeth. Thanks to the generosity of donors like you, children like Yunuen will receive the treatments they need to live healthier, happier lives!

When Andrea was 5, she couldn’t sleep at night because of dental pain. At a screening in her elementary school, a volunteer dentist from Save a Smile found Andrea suffered from serious dental disease. Cook Children’s Health Care System in Fort Worth, Texas, received a $20,000 Access to Care Grant from Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children in 2013 and Andrea got the help she needed. Today, Andrea is a lively first-grader with a smile that can melt your heart.

Get Involved

Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children: The Foundation of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry strives to ensure every child has a Dental Home – a place where they can receive consistent, compassionate dental care. You can help through your donations and by volunteering with your time.